Autoweek Asks: Should expert drivers be given a pass (in passing)?

We all know bad drivers. We see them on the road, we ride with them to work, we see their cars broken down on the side of the freeway. But you, our smart, enthusiast readers, are not bad drivers. That’s why I’m proposing an expert-level driver’s training program that gets you, an expert driver with well-maintained equipment and a clean-ish record, a big “X” sticker for your bumper that would give you the benefit of the doubt when not breaking, but bending the rules of the road.

Think about it. Maybe once per year, maybe every six months you go into a place, hopefully not the DMV, and take a new driver’s test, both road and written, a new vision and hearing test, and have your car checked out by a mechanic to make sure your lights, tires, brakes and suspension are in proper working order.

Let’s break it down. Show up to Joe’s Expert Driver service station and get your rubber checked for inflation and tread life. If a tire is just 6 psi low, the driver will experience a loss of steering precision and cornering stability. A broken air suspension, sloppy steering, no headlights, these are arguably worse. So, Ol’ Joe will check the brakes, suspension, steering and flashers, too. You can’t expect to be given the green light with a beater Pontiac Sunbird using drum brakes from the '80s.

From there you’ll take your car over to Bill’s Expert Driver Certification course to make sure you still have what it takes to double lane change without spinning wildly out of control, panic stop in a box and control over and understeer in wet and dry conditions. Finally, you may have to go to the DMV (sorry) to get your eyes, hearing and reaction time checked. After that, you get your “X.”

The expert driver could even get a camera installed on their car, or a black box in the OBDII port like insurance companies give out. It wouldn’t always be transmitting, but if you did get into an accident, you could either prove your innocence or get your expert-level permissions revoked.

The cost, of course, will all be passed on to you, the expert driver. The bill could come through with your registration every year. A small price to pay, I say. But with that “X” on your bumper, you’ll get a little more leeway in the case of speeding. You get to go 20 percent over the limit, instead of the usual 10. You can turn left on red when it’s clear, defying the left turn arrow. Maybe you, the expert, get deputized, so if you must pass someone on the right that’s been hogging the passing lane, he’ll get a ticket instead of you. The experts get to report other idiotic drivers on the road. Once a nonexpert driver gets three or five calls on them, they come in for a refresher course, at a cost to them.

There has to be a mobile phone component to this, too. Along with that expert “X,” you get an app that shuts down your phone while driving to prove that you’ll be paying attention. It would use a proximity/speed sensor installed in your vehicle, that knows when the phone is close and the car is moving. This is all feasible, people, and a small price to pay to be able to ... not drive with impunity, but drive like a champion, all day, every day. Just like you guys and gals do now, but with less risk.

Maybe I’m crazy, maybe this is just a fever dream I came up with after a particularly harrowing drive into work in a 400-hp, all-wheel-drive Infiniti Q60 Red Sport. But maybe, just maybe this could work. As it stands, terrible licensed drivers talking on their phones with three bald tires and a broken shock are subject to the same rules as expert licensed drivers with vehicles in perfect working order who actually pay attention. We currently have gradations of driver’s licenses. New drivers get restrictions, seasoned vets should get exceptions. These are the issues we should be talking about, politics be damned.

Addendum: I’ve heard from my compatriots here that it might just sound like I want a license to drive like a jerk. To that I’ll say this. I never drive like a jerk. I drive fast, I pass quickly, but never unsafely. I feel that driving like a jerk means either holding someone else up, scaring someone else on the road or driving dangerously. Expert drivers don’t do that. And to prove that point, I would offer that expert drivers would be held to a higher standard of safety and would pay extra fines if that could be demonstrably proved in front of a jury of peers. Extra benefits equal extra liability, and I’m fine with that.

So, what do you say?

Jake Lingeman for U.S. Traffic Czar, 2020.

The story "Should experts get a pass in passing" are the thoughts of Jake Lingeman alone and are not meant to represent Autoweek or Crain Communications Inc. We would never advocate breaking the law, and any tickets, accidents, court appearances resulting from driving like a champion are yours and yours alone.

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